Farr signs with Linfield

McNary senior Sam Farr, accompanied by Celtics head coach Jeff Auvinen, signed with Linfield College on Wednesday, Feb. 1. (Submitted)

By DEREK WILEYOf the Keizertimes

McNary senior Sam Farr only had to look 28 miles northwest to McMinnville to fulfill his goal of playing college football.

The offensive lineman signed with Linfield College on Wednesday, Feb. 1 in the McNary library.

“It was definitely a goal of mine and has been ever since I started playing football,” Farr said. “It felt like all the hard work that I’d put in ever since I started playing football started to pay off. It’s really humbling and I’m so excited as well. It’s a huge opportunity and a huge compliment to me.”

Farr first heard from Linfield the spring after his junior football season when the Wildcats Offensive Line and Associate Head Coach Doug Hire visited McNary. The two met in the library.

“We ended up talking about everything, what my senior year was going to look like, how the recruiting process was going to go and he just kind of introduced me to the entire football program as well as the school,” said Farr, who then went to a skills clinic at Linfield over the summer, followed by the Wildcats first home game of the season, a 27-10 win over Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 12.

Farr also spent his summer going to clinics at Willamette University and George Fox, Division-III programs that also play in the Northwest Conference and suffered crushing losses to Linfield as the Wildcats went 9-2 in their 61st consecutive winning season and eighth straight conference title.

While Farr is looking forward to joining a successful football program, he also felt comfortable on campus.

“On all my visits there I just felt at home,” Farr said. “It felt like a place that I could really fit into. I love the coaching staff. I met a couple of the teachers there and they seemed pretty cool. My uncle went there and he had nothing but good things to say.”

Farr, who started at guard his junior season at McNary and then split time between center and guard as a senior, said he should also have a shot at early playing time as the Wildcats graduated 22 seniors.

“They have more of a need,” Farr said. “They haven’t had a lot of depth on the offensive line.”

Farr also believes Linfield will help him continue to build character and make himself a better person.

“The whole program is about developing young men into successful people and that’s why their program is so good,” he said.

With the motto, “The Power of a Small College,” Linfield’s main campus has just 1,700 students and an 11 to 1 student to faculty ratio, which also interested Farr, who plans to major in forensic psychology.